Category: Blog

Just the way things go this time of year.

The seeds and seedlings are on heat mats, so they are riding out the chill just fine. It’s only me that is anxious.

Broccoli, peas and various onions coming along nicely

And most everything in the second wave is popped as well. Dye plants, tomatoes, eggplants all underway- Peppers taking a bit longer, but I kind of expected that.

Despite the rain and chill, I got some more compost hauled, and the raspberry canes thinned (tho not tied up yet), so felt that I’d met my garden productivity quota for the weekend 🙂

And I’m feeling good about having something back on the needles- a little brioche featuring the fun little multicolor chain ply skeins I spun up a few weeks back

I think that Esther’s creamy white really sets off the multicolor blends nicely.

I took a guess at the gauge and cast on 66 stitches, figuring that would get me in the ballpark of a hat or cowl, as brioche is pretty stretchy.

And it’s a good fit! Light and lofty, comfy and and cozy. (for future reference- knit 6 inches of two color brioche in the round, then crown shaping in three parts, brioche (double) decrease every other knit round.)

Have a good week everyone-

Longtime readers of the blog might remember the original run at motorizing my Pat Green drum carder .

That worked for a while, but then I started to experience slippage due to the belts stretching, and at some point I went back to hand cranking. The hand cranking isn’t bad, but because of the forces of the hand cranking on the machine, it does require that the carder be clamped to the surface it sits on, to prevent it shifting around. And the spot I like to work in isn’t ideal for that. So it seemed like a good time to revisit the motor-driven idea.

And thankfully we still had the assembly hanging around in the shed. So The Man recently turned his attention to the issue, and arrived at an improved arrangement of the components.

Neat, eh? The one last bit will be to put a protective shield around the belts. But it’s up and running- and doing an excellent job. 🙂 More photos:

In other news, I finally tackled pruning Big Apple (couple hard-to-reach branches will need to be managed with the pole saw, but checking it off my list!)

It is actually pretty cool being up in the top of the apple tree. It’s its own little world up there- thick with moss, lichens, ferns. I meant to get a photo while I had the ladder out, but forgot- so here is what I can share from ground level.

Also came across a robin next from last year

I can see why birds love this tree. So many good spots, so much good nesting material.

And seed are starting to take off! The earliest guys (peas, broccoli, onions) are looking good

And I’m just starting to get some germination on the second wave that was sown last weekend (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, dye plants)

It was a beautiful day today- and got so warm in the hoophouse that I rolled up the west side a bit. (first time this year).

The forecast is suggesting that perhaps we’ve turned the corner and are headed for spring. I sure hope that is true.

This is always a tough time of year. It often feels like we’re coming out of winter, and then this happens

It’s actually warming up some now, but it was a very wintery week, with some days not even getting above freezing. I knew it was coming, but decided to start some seed last weekend anyway, putting them on heat mats and hoping for the best.

Remains to be seen if the onions and peas are still viable, but I was so excited to see some brave, hardy little broccolis poking their heads up this morning!

And it looks like some precocious poppies might have made it through as well.

I did manage to get my sunshiny batts spun up yesterday, and So here is how the violet heather and the buttery yellow multi look side by side

So springy. It actually just occurred to me that I am kind of recreating some of my favorite roses in wool

To wit-

Anyway, so now we know where that impulse came from!

And I wanted to share a neat little book that I received as a gift from Donna over at Schoonover Farm

It’s a series of letters written between twin sisters, Nora and Flora Johnston, written in 1918, in the midst of the Spanish Flu epidemic. Very interesting piece of local history that really beings to life the cast of characters that populated this area about 100 years ago. No specific reference to the Canavans, who would have been the occupants of our house at that time, tho she does mention a “Nell” which could be Nell Canavan. Also McMackins (original land patent owners of our property) come up a couple times, but not specific people, just a reference their home/property. Kind of makes me want to followup on some of the lines of inquiry I left dangling years ago. Some of the folks that I’d corresponded with back then have since passed on, but there are some historical organizations that I could reach out to.

Have a good week everyone-

Mighty gray and rainy outside this weekend, so rather than prune the Big Apple, I decided to create a more pleasing palette, with the help of the fiber stash.

I dove into my bags and bins of dyed wools, and pulled out a bunch of energizing shades-

I love love love that violet color, and thought it would make a beautiful base color for a heathery mix of different hues. A few passes through the drum carder resulted in a blend that was so fun to spin- just watching the different shades pass through my fingers was a tonic.

I spun the singles on Mighty Red (who might be on the verge of getting a new name. I’m almost there). She’s got some good energy. Such a smooth and easy spinner.

I decided to make this a two-ply, and only have the one original bobbin for MR, so had to wind off onto storage bobbins. Sophie was happy to help out with that bit-

I remove her bobbin brake, and move the driveband over to drive the bobbin to use her as a winder. So now I’ve got two Sophie bobbins of Violet Heather singles ready to ply

Sunshine with a side of blue sky, and dashes of infrared and ultraviolet getting all melty on the drum carder.

I think these two are going to coordinate fabulously

Perhaps in a sweater project?

Hmmmm. Something to think on this week.

Ps. Special thanks to The Man for shooting my the video clips for this post 🙂